Her heart was racing in her chest. She couldn’t see Timothy. She couldn’t even feel the warm glow of the mate bond anymore.
She was all alone and lost in darkness.
She was all alone...
Suddenly, she heard the sound of laughter in the shadows surrounding her. The sound of it was familiar. It was the mocking laughter of Benny, the day he’d broken up with her.
“Stupid uptight bitch,” he’d called her.
She could hear him whispering it now from the shadows.
You really think anyone could want you? You’re just pretending to like comics for attention from guys like me. And then you won’t even put out. You should’ve been grateful I wanted you. Do you really think anyone else is going to bother with someone like you? Everyone laughed when they saw your ridiculous cosplay photos on Facebook.
Liana’s face burned, humiliation churning in her stomach. For a moment, she thought she was going to be sick.
She’d thought she was over Benny. What he’d said had hurt her a lot at the time—but she’d moved on. She’d found new friends.
She’d never met the right sort of guy, that was true—but she wasn’t a fake fan. She had a real job in the gaming industry now. She got to code dragon adventures for a living—it didn’t get more real than that.
And maybe she was a very curvy Wonder Woman... but so what? She liked her curves, and the costume had made her cleavage look amazing.
Keep lying to yourself, Benny’s voice hissed from the shadows. I bet your mate laughs about you behind your back when he tells his friends that you like to dress up like a silly comics character. He only wanted you because he wanted to come into his full power. Now that he’s had you, you’re useless to him. He could have anyone he wants. Do you know how many women he’s had in that fancy penthouse of his? You’re just the last in a long line. He’ll grow bored of you in a week and throw you away like all those other women...
Liana’s heart ached at the thought of life without Timothy. It was impossible to imagine now. He’d brought such magic into her boring life.
Real magic—not just the daily grind of coding and fixing bugs and finishing a game update, only to immediately get swamped by their players’ complaints.
Maybe Benny was right. Maybe her job wasn’t anything to be proud of. It paid the bills and that was it. She’d never change the world by coding colorful dragons.
But even if that was true, he was wrong about Timothy.
There was a small throb of warmth inside her now. Just one tiny pulse of it, like a golden seed in her heart. But it was enough to lift the oppressive darkness a little.
Slowly, the warmth increased. As she concentrated on it, it grew brighter.
It was the mate bond, she realized at last. It was still there—it had always been there. Despite the tendrils of darkness trying to suffocate her, it had always been with her.
With a deep breath, she reached out for it, opening herself up fully to the golden light.
And then, like a dam that had broken, it rushed into her, filling her with Timothy’s love and that overwhelming joy. She surrendered herself to the steady throb of rightness, the sense of fitting together seamlessly, like two pieces of a puzzle.
Maybe it was true. Maybe Benny had broken her a little.
And maybe Timothy, too, had been broken a bit, always wearing masks and pretending that he wasn’t lonely, keeping everyone at bay.
But together, they were whole, two halves coming together to form one perfect, strong union.
And together, they were stronger than the menacing fire dragon could ever be. Because someone like Steele would never be able to understand the power that could be found in real love.
“We will never kneel to you,” she declared and took a step forward.
Just like that, the darkness vanished completely, as if a curtain had been ripped in half.
Timothy was still standing protectively in front of her. When she reached out to take his hand, she felt the golden light of the mate bond swell until it felt like she was carrying the sun itself.
“Neither humans nor shifters will acknowledge you. You want destruction. We want life. And life will win. It always does.”
At Liana’s defiant words, the fire dragon roared angrily. He was still holding Braeden in his claws—and now he hurled him forward.